Sandwich Compliments For Better Service

Getting good customer service can sometimes feel like a crapshoot, but weblog Consumerism Commentary offers a few suggestions for improving your experience, including “sandwiching” your criticism between two positive statements.

Offer a “complaint sandwich”. This is a psychological manipulation tactic — and it works. If you start your discussion with a positive comment, move to a discussion of the issue you’d like to resolve and end again with a positive comment, you’re more likely to receive the results you want. In my experience, this strategy is called praise-suggestion-praise.

You could start a discussion by saying how much you love being a customer of the company. It’s important to be sincere and genuine and to quickly get to the core of the matter so you don’t waste the representative’s time. After explaining your issue, offer praise again, thanking the representative and remaining positive that the two parties can agree about a resolution.